Commission approves resolution to participate in sales tax holiday

The commission heard an update from David Arias, Executive Director of the Shelby Humane Society, during its April 10 meeting.

The Shelby County Commission today approved a resolution to provide an exemption of county sales and use tax during the state-wide “sales tax holiday.”

The county regularly participates in the tax-free weekend, which makes non-commercial purchases related to school clothing and supplies tax-free, said Chief Financial Officer Butch Burbage. The resolution passed during the April 10 Shelby County Commission meeting reflected changes made by the state legislature, Burbage said, mainly that this year’s tax-free holiday would take place in the third week of July rather than in early August.

“Some of the schools had asked to do that ahead of time so that people could get their school supplies and so forth, so that’s the only real change that was made,” Burbage said.

Burbage also noted that the holiday does not have a significant impact on county revenues.

“We really can’t tell a big difference in the sale tax collections from one month to the next on that,” Burbage said. “Even though we participate in it, it really doesn’t affect us much at all.”

The commission also heard an update from David Arias, Executive Director of the Shelby Humane Society. Arias took the position of executive director in November. Since that time, the humane society has made some staffing and operational changes, he said, and worked out their budget and long-term strategy.

To remain transparent, Arias said the humane society includes its outcome data and other information on its website.

“We try to make sure if there are questions anyone has, it’s there to see, and my door is always open as well,” Arias said.

County Manager Alex Dudchock emphasized the importance of promoting spay and neutering of animals to prevent overpopulation, something Arias said is an issue in the county. Dudchock said the humane society has a crematorium on site, and Arias said euthanization mainly takes place in cases of health issues of extreme aggression.

Of the animals who are euthanized, most are cats, he said, and most come from hoarding situations — where large numbers of animals are kept in a small space and inevitably develop health issues.

“If it weren’t for that, we’d be even better,” Arias said. “And even with that, we’ve gone from a live release rate of around 30 percent in 2008, and now we’re in the mid-70s.”

Also during the meeting, the commission:

Approved a retail liquor license for Red Shamrock Pub. This license will replace Red Shamrock’s currently held club license.

Approved a resolution making July 3 an additional county holiday for fiscal year 2017.